Markus Varesvuo (Finland) lies in the snow to get eye to eye with an almost invisible bird.
Lying on his front, his arm jammed into the snow for stability, Markus photographed
the camouflaged rock ptarmigan as it peeked out of a reindeer hoofprint. Every winter Markus searches for these birds in the Arctic, where conditions range from winter wonderland to impossible blizzards.
When the snow melts and refreezes, it forms an icy crust that prevents rock ptarmigans from reaching the berries and buds beneath. To overcome this issue, the rock ptarmigans follow the Sámi-owned reindeer, hopping into the patches of foliage cleared by their hooves.
Ptarmigans are currently abundant and well adapted to their extreme environment. But their future is uncertain given the rapid rate of climate change in the Arctic along with new predators moving north as the temperature warms.
Finland
Markus is a bird photographer from Finland whose passion and ambition is to photograph European birds - exposing their lives, habitats and behaviours to a wider audience. He has authored more than a dozen books in nine languages, including the Handbook of Bird Photography, which he co-authored with Jari Peltomäki and Bence Máté. In addition to having built an extensive photo library of bird pictures, Markus has had his work exhibited extensively in Finland and abroad.
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